Illinois lawmakers advance bill that could help Rockford establish an Excel Center for high school dropouts

Isaac Guerrero Staff writer @isaac_rrs

Sunday

Mar 12, 2017 at 11:00 AMMar 12, 2017 at 5:02 PM

Rep. Joe Sosnowski is the chief sponsor of the bill, which could help alleviate Rockford's 'GED crisis'

ROCKFORD — Lawmakers are considering a bill that could help the Rockford region provide a high school diploma to more than 40,000 adults in Boone and Winnebago counties.

State law prevents school districts from awarding high school diplomas to students who are 21 or older. Adult learners instead have the option of earning an equivalency certificate, such as the General Equivalency Development diploma. Although more than 700 adults in Boone and Winnebago counties earn a GED diploma each year, hundreds more young adults in the region drop out of high school every year.

Illinois House Bill 2527, introduced by state Rep. Joe Sosnowski, R-Rockford, would effectively eliminate the high school diploma age cap. If approved, the legislation would allow a nonprofit agency, in partnership with the state Board of Education, to establish a school for adult learners that would issue high school diplomas and additional vocational credentials so that graduates have a certified job skill upon graduation.

“Removing the age cap is a good first step,” said Sam Schmitz, president of Rockford-based Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois. Sosnowski's bill has moved out of the House Rules Committee. The House Elementary and Secondary Education School Curriculum and Policies Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the bill this month, and Schmitz will travel to Springfield to testify to the merits of the proposal.

Goodwill, Rock Valley College and other education and social service providers have established a patchwork of programs to stem what's called the Rockford region's "GED crisis." But many employers prefer to hire workers who are high school graduates rather than someone with an equivalency certificate, Schmitz said.

Schmitz aims to establish an Excel Center in Rockford to combat the region's low educational attainment. The Excel Center model was born out of a Goodwill chapter in Indianapolis in 2010. Since then, it has expanded to more than a dozen locations, including Memphis, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; and Washington, D.C., and has armed hundreds of former dropouts with high school diplomas, industry certifications and jobs.

The tuition-free school offers day and evening classes, on-site child care, and intense academic and personal counseling, and provides vocational certifications or college coursework.

“The Excel Center has been successfully modeled by Goodwill in other states,” Sosnowski said. “If we can replicate that here, then employers can see that there's a track record of success with this program.”

Sosnowski's bill comes with no funding, so how Goodwill would pay for an Excel Center is unclear. It would cost at least $250,000 to establish such a school in Rockford and an additional $1.2 million to $2 million a year to operate it, Schmitz said. Local and state funding and grants from private foundations are all possibilities, he said.